Lauren--Part Thirteen

Splog # 48

Thirteen

   Splog stopped singing abruptly and Lauren, who had been gazing at the shadowy landscape and the stars, looked over at him and asked, "...and what?"

   Splog had been placing his fiddle and bow back into his voluminous coat. He looked back at Lauren and said, "And what what?"

   "I'm singing songs of folly and what?"

   "Oh, were you singing also? Your efforts escaped my notice because I happened to be singing simultaneously and therefore I'm completely unaware of what subject your song was composed."

   "No," said Lauren. "you said - or sang - 'I'm singing songs of folly and' and then you stopped singing. So I'm asking you, 'You're singing songs of folly and what?' "

   Splog seemed to consider this for a moment and then said, " 'I'm singing songs of folly and what' doesn't seem to comprehend an understandable thought. You could say 'I'm singing songs of folly and what makes me feel jolly.' How's that? Would that be of assistance to your musical composition?"

   Lauren took a deep breath and said, "I wasn't singing. I was listening to you and when you stopped singing your last word was 'and' and so you didn't finish your thought."

   "Had the rest of my song been rhyming with 'and'?"

   "Yes. Every line you sang ended with a word like grand or sand. You even used Amanda once."

   "Well then, the word 'and' fits in quite well. Why did you say it didn't rhyme?"

   "I didn't say it didn't rhyme. I said you can't end a song with 'and' because it doesn't make sense. 'And' has to be followed by another word. Like salt and pepper or bacon and eggs. You can't say salt and or bacon and without adding something to it. 'Could I have the salt and to put on my bacon and?' " Just saying this made Lauren start to giggle. Splog looked at her curiously.

   "I'm going home to see Mom and. I really enjoy running and. The sun and light up the sky. You and just made a long climb down a hill." Each time she said one of these sentences, Lauren would giggle a little more. Splog just sat and looked at her with an amused smile on his face.

   As Lauren's laughter subsided, she said, "So you see, the word 'and' has to have something following it or it doesn't make sense."

   Splog said, "Yes and..." But before he could continue, there was a chugging noise and a train came rolling around the bend to their right. It wasn't a very large train. It wasn't as small as the trains that she had seen in parks that children could ride on. But neither was it as big as the train that her father had once ridden away on, leaning out of a window as she and her mother waved to him. There were three cars and they seemed very clean for a train. Each car was a different pastel color - the first one lilac, the second blue and the third green. The conductor waved from the purple car at Splog, and said "Much time." Splog replied, "No waste." And then a door rolled up in the blue car and a ramp slid out to the pavement and Splog headed inside. Lauren followed and the first thing she noticed on the interior was that the ceiling was rather low. Not being very tall, it didn't bother her, but she wondered if grown-ups would find the space somewhat cramped. There was a narrow aisle down the middle of the car, between rows of seats facing the front. The seats were plush and looked comfortable and Splog turned into one and settled himself into it. Lauren did the same and soon heard someone calling, "Tickets. Tickets." A man came down the aisle from behind them. Lauren couldn't figure out where he had come from as the car had seemed empty when she'd entered it. Except for Splog and herself, of course. The man was a grown-up and he was walking hunched over. He greeted them with a warm smile and said, "Much time." Splog replied, "No waste." And then the man looked at Lauren. She felt a little self-conscious as she murmured, "No waste." But the man's smile only widened and he said, "4, 8, 12 or 16?"

   Splog answered , "16 and then out."

   "16 and then out," the man repeated slowly. Then he took a small camera from a pocket in his jacket and proceeded to snap a picture of each of them. Then he again repeated, "16 and out," and went back the way he had come. Lauren turned and followed him with her eyes. When he got to the back of the car, he sat down in the last seat, which was facing the rear of the train, and he must have ducked down after he sat because he disappeared from Lauren's view. She could hear various soft noises coming from where he had vanished but couldn't tell from them what he was doing.

   After a moment, she turned back to Splog. "16 and then out?" she said to him.

   Just then, the train started moving and Splog, who had been looking out the window, turned to her and said, "Hm?"

   "16 and then out?" Lauren repeated.

   Splog studied her face for a moment , and then asked, "Is that another of your songs?"

   Lauren sighed and said, "No, it's yours. Not a song, I mean. That's what you told the man who took our pictures."

   "16 and then out? Oh, yes. So I did. Were you planning on a different sort of excursion? I thought one circumambulation would orient you and then we might start for our actual destination. Have you something else in mind?"

 

   Lauren said that no, she didn't have anything else in mind. "But maybe you've forgotten that I'm new here. I don't know this place. I don't know where we're going. I don't even know why I'm here. And I don't know what '16 and then out' means.